The Girl Who Lived
by deborahlily
Summary: Kiara Potter's name is known all around, 'the girl who lived'. Kiara is swept up into a world of magic and mystery. She has finally found the place where she belongs, but danger is only just around the corner. Making unlikely friends and allies, will she be ready to fight the coming storm threatening to rise again? This is a story building up to a Kiara Potter/Severus Snape romance
1. New Hope

Chapter 1

Kiara had only ever heard about witches in books about daring knights and beautiful princesses. Or perhaps the often rude comment Mr Dursely blurted out in anger, describing a particular work colleague who had annoyed him that day.

"A witch?" murmured the bewildered young girl. "How could I possibly be a witch?"

She stared up at the looming dark shadow of a man standing in the corner of the room of the dusty shack…

Today had been one of the most peculiar she had ever experienced. This morning she had awoken, like any other, in the cupboard under the stairs at Number 4 Privet Drive. Now to any other person that would seem quite odd, but that in fact was her room. She lived with her Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and her loathsome cousin Dudley.

"Up!" yelled Aunt Petunia banging on the cupboard door. "Get up you ungrateful child."

Kiara rose from her cramped bed frowning at the door and reached to turn on the light.

"Into the kitchen now and help me with breakfast" she snarled at the door before scurrying away into the kitchen.

It was nothing new to Kiara to be spoken to like that, she had experienced it all her life. It was no secret to her that she was not wanted here. The only reason she stayed was because they didn't want to make a bad impression with the neighbour's, as she had heard on numerous occasions.

Kiara often wondered what it would have been like if her parents were here to look after her. They had been killed in a car crash when she was only a baby, though she could not remember it. She had been told in one of Uncle Vernon's daily rants, she rubbed her tired eyes remembering the moment.

_ "I'm sick to death of you!" yelled her Uncle, his face turning red in anger. "Always being ungrateful, always asking for new things."_

_"I've just grown out of my clothes" whimpered the small girl cowering before the angry figure._

_"You don't stop growing do you!" he shouted with annoyance. _

_"If Lily and James Potter, your selfish parents, hadn't gotten themselves stupidly killed in a car accident I wouldn't have to waste all my money on their rotten child" _

Kiara recalled herself that day running from the room with tears in her eyes, they had never talked about her parents before and she had always been too afraid to ask.

She pushed the harsh memories out of her mind as she crawled out of the cupboard to stand in the hallway. She stood trying to brush out any tangles in her long black hair with her tiny fingers, when suddenly a letter flew through the letter box. Her bright green eyes widened in surprise. She had never seen a letter move by its self before.

"Perhaps I imagined it" Kiara whispered to herself.

"Imagined what?" grumbled Dudley as he clumped down the stairs.

"Nothing to do with you" she replied indignantly.

Dudley started to scowl and was about to come out with a nasty retort when he spotted the letter lying on the floor.

"What's this?" He said curiously, as he reached down a pudgy hand to pick up the mysterious envelope. His curious expression turned black with jealously.

"Dad!" screamed Dudley "Why does Kiara have a letter and I don't!?"

"What's all this racket?" muttered Mr Dursley as he came stopping out of the living room.

"Look!" said Dudley shoving the letter under his father's nose.

Mr Dursley started to read the front aloud "Kiara Potter….Hogwarts School" and his voice cut off, his normally red face starting to lose some of its colour.

"Nonsense" he said to himself, crumpling the letter up in his hand. "We have no need of letters of that sort delivered to this address please."

"But…that was mine" objected Kiara "That letter was addressed to me!"

"Nonsense" he replied again angrily "And don't mention another word about it"

He then stormed from the hall, closely followed by a smug looking Dudley, who too often had his own way.

The small black haired girl stared after them, contempt starting to build up inside her pushing at her chest to be released. When a sudden noise from behind startled her and she swung around.

There sitting innocently on the unfashionable carpet was another letter. She laughed aloud and went out to reach for the peculiar thing when Mr Dursley came clobbering out of the living room once again.

"What now, keep the noise down" he complained.

His eyes came to rest on the mystical letter, his face started to turn an ugly purple colour.

"No!" he shouted, "No more of these letters here!"

He bent down to pick it up when suddenly another flew through the letter box. He glanced at it and his eyes started to open wider, giving the appearance they were about to bulge out of his head. As soon as he had reached across again for the magical envelopes thousands of them started pouring out through the door. The furious man stood up in a futile attempt to grab the flying pieces of paper.

Kiara started to laugh and was in a fit of hysterics when Aunt Petunia and Dudley came rushing into the hallway to see what on earth was going on.

"Vernon!" cried Aunt Petunia

He turned towards her voice and shouted "Pack some things, we're leaving. Now!"

And that is how they had arrived at this dingy shack. Then a few hours later the huge giant of a man had come bursting in the doorway, demanding to see the young lady Kiara. Uncle Vernon certainly had a few things to say to this and none of them pleasant. The large man with shaggy black hair insisted and there was clearly nothing the balding man could do to stop him.

The enormous man approached Kiara and spoke gently as not to frighten her "Hi I'm Hagrid, I brought you ter yer Aunt and Uncle when yer was just a baby but you probably don't remember me."

He sighed when the girl shook her head.

"I have yer acceptance letter from Hogwarts School o' Witchcraft an' Wizardry".

The young green-eyed girl looked puzzled "From where?" she replied.

"Hogwarts…wait, yer mean to tell me yer don't know bout Hogwarts?" exclaimed the man called Hagrid.

"Uh...no" she replied confused.

"Why, yer a witch Kiara!"

End of Chapter


	2. Uncovering Diagon Alley

Chapter 2

The next few hours passed in a blur. Hagrid have convinced Kiara to come with him to 'Diagon Alley', wherever that was, to buy her school supplies.

"Yer going to love Hogwarts" the friendly man was rambling on. "You'll be taught by the greatest headmaster that Hogwarts has ever seen; Albus Dumbledore."

Kiara just nodded along, since she had no idea who this Dumbledore man was but thought it polite to agree. Though the way Hagrid praised him so highly made her look forward to meeting him.

Kiara thought back in happiness to how she had got here from the dingy shack.

_Mr and Mrs Dursley had not been impressed to say the least. They hated everything and everyone associated with magic and Mr Dursley had the unfortunate habit of speaking his mind._

_Hagrid has stood up a little taller, his face darkening in distaste at the insult. Mr Dursley seemed to take this as a threat and shrank back from the man muttering._

_"I suppose it would be better for us" He said swallowing deeply. "Not having to look after that ungrateful girl for a few months."_

_So that was that, and Kiara was quite overjoyed; to be free from the tiresome company of the Dursleys felt liberating. She must be asleep and dreaming these strange events._

They were currently walking towards a large brick wall, seemingly a dead end. Slightly bewildered Kiara looked up at the large kind face smiling down at her.

"We're nearly at Diagon Alley" said Hagrid walking up to the old wall. He lifted a giant hand and tapped one of the dusty bricks 3 times. Kiara looked at the wall confused and then amazed as the bricks started to shift themselves back, creating a passageway.

"This is a secret entrance" smiled the huge fellow, you could tell he enjoyed sharing the secret. "To stop muggles finding out about this place".

"Muggles?" said Kiara clearly baffled. "What are muggles?"

"Oh of course yeh wouldn't know" said Hagrid remembering "Muggles are what witches and wizards describe none magical beings as."

"Oh okay" said Kiara now understanding.

Hagrid gestured an arm to Kiara to enter the magic passageway. She stepped through the gap and gasped in wonder. It was like she had stepped through a portal to another world. There was an assortment of shops lined up along the cobbled road, advertising cauldrons and all sorts of potions. People were walking from shop to shop wearing brightly coloured robes of reds, greens and blues. She saw a young boy with dark hair running out of a shop, he was carrying a large toad above his head as in triumph, towards an older woman.

"I was at Gringotts Wizarding bank earlier" shouted Hagrid at her side over the large racket of shoppers. "I've got sum galleons from yer vault for yeh while I were there".

"My vault?" asked Kiara "Wait…what are galleons?"

Hagrid looked at her surprised for a second, his bushy eyebrows raised, before realising again she didn't know anything about the wizarding world.

"Well galleons are a form of wizarding money" replied Hagrid. "There are also sickles and knuts. There are 17 sickles in a galleon and 29 knuts in a sickle. Do you think yer got that?"

"Yeah… I think so" Kiara concurred "Though it might be a bit confusing for a while until I get my head around it" She said with a smile on her pale face.

"Alright then" chuckled Hagrid "First stop Flourish and Blotts to get yer school books, I have yer list here."

Hagrid passed Kiara a crumpled piece of parchment. The young girl opened it up and read aloud:

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_

_ A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_

_ Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_

_ A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_

_ One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_

_ Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_

_ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_

_ The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble_

"There's a quite lot of books" murmured Kiara feeling slightly overwhelmed yet excited at all the interesting titles.

"Don't worry" said Hagrid reassuringly "Lets be on our way."


	3. Hermione

Chapter 3 The girl who lived.

After what felt like a lifetime of walking around from shop to shop Hagrid kindly informed Kiara that they had arrived at their last stop. They had came to halt outside a grey brick building with the name Ollivanders in gold writing writing at the top. There was an inviting gold light coming from inside of the shop and Kiara felt compelled to enter inside. Kiara was about to grasp the worn handle when a determined voice spoke from behind her.

"Hello!" shouted a bushy haired girl. "Are you here to buy your first wand too?"

The presumptuous girls' brown eyes shone with curiosity and she gave off a friendly attitude.

"Well, I am" said the girl. "Did you know there are 38 different types of wood that a wand can be made from? Oh, and I'm Hermione Granger by the way. This is my first time in Diagon Alley, I'm so excited!"

Kiara could tell that this girl was perhaps a little bit of a know it all, but on the other hand she was also the first young girl who had said any kind words to her in a very long time. Going to the same school as Dudley, who had given her the reputation as the class nerd, had made it very difficult to make friends. Kiara decided to be optimistic and give this girl a chance, that is if she could get a word in edgeways before the brown haired girl started talking again.

"Yes, well I think so, I wasn't quite sure what a wand was until yesterday." spoke Kiara shyly from behind her long black hair.

"Oh!" shouted Hermione surprise lighting her eyes. "Are you muggle-born too then?"

Kiara didn't know what to say. She had hardly any memory of her parents, and all her Aunt and Uncle could tell her was that they were unfortunately killed in a car crash burdening her on them. Kiara felt tears starting to well up behind her eyes as she looked up at Hagrid for guidance.

"James an Lily Potter! Muggles?!" guffawed Hagrid. "Well I never. No sweet girl" reassured Hagrid. "Yur parents were the bravest an brightest wizards I knew!"

"Potter..." Contemplated Hermione. "Why, you're the girl that lived!"

Kiara was bewildered, she felt like an outsider in a new world and now she was apparently famous...

"Now, perhaps that is a tale for an nuther time" Hargrid gently spoke with a glance towards the girl called Hermoine.

Kiara wasn't quite sure what had just transgressed but the talkative girl clearly understood as she dropped the subject and started rattling on more about the history of wands. Kiara had a feeling something terrible and sinister had happened in her past and it had something to do with the scar on her forehead. Hermoine kept stealing glances at it when she thought Kiara wasn't looking. But she decided not to press the issue, she wasn't completely sure she was ready for the truth...

Half an hour later her mood had definitely improved as she was holding her very own wand. It was made from Holly, with a Unicorn hair core, 10" in length and a slightly springy flexibility; according to Mr Ollivander. Kiara had never felt so complete in her life as she did right in that moment. Her glee must have been showing on her face as an excited Hermione came running up to her and hugged her with her own new wand in her hand.

"Hogwarts is going to be amazing!" squealed Hermione. "I'll see you next week at the station" she said before running back off to her parents.

"There yer go!" chuckled Hagrid "Making friends already aren't ye."

Kiara smiled up at the giant man but the she couldn't stop thinking about the ominous conversation that had taken place earlier that day.

"Hagrid" said Kiara apprehensively. "What really happened to my parents? How come everyone kept staring and whispering about me today?"

Hargrid's face dropped as he looked down as Kiara's small figure.

"Come on" he said, putting a arm around Kiara's shoulder and leading her forward. "Let's go somewhere more private an ill tell ye what ye want to know".

A few minutes later Kiara found herself seated in the Leaky Cauldron, which she remembered passing through earlier. The table she was sat at seemed to be highly polished oak, but despite the fancy furniture, the inn seemed dark and shabby; shadows loomed in the corners of the room giving the appearance of monsters lurking in the dark. Kiara shivered as she turned to Hagrid whose somber gaze was distant and seemed hesitant to start speaking. At last his gaze met Kiara's as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Yer parents were both brave an amazing wizards of their time" said Hagrid quietly. "They both died fightin for the right cause and refused to give in ter evil. Yer see there was a war when yer was a wee baby, lead by a dark wizard called..."

Hagrid paused conflict apparent on his ragged face.

"Called what Hargrid?" said Kiara puzzled.

"We do not say his name.."

"But why?!" said Kiara getting more confused by the minute. "Surely saying a name couldn't cause any harm? Right?"

For a few seconds Hagrid sat there indecision written across his face before he finally spoke.

"ow alright" he said hestitantly "Dunt suppose it could do any harm now.. his name.. his name was...Voldemort" He spoke this last word rushed and clearly pained him to do so.

Kiara listened quietly as Hagrid retold the story of her parents and felt sadness and anger all at once. She wished she could go back in time and wrack revenge on this supposed all powerful wizard named Voldemort. The one who apparently couldn't kill a small baby, but instead only left the small scar on her forehead that was still there today. She took a small comfort in that, her parents had not died for nothing. If their actions had brought about the end of a dark wizard and saved many other lives she was proud to be their daughter.

Kiara thought about the upcoming week, the more Hagrid talked about Hogwarts the more excited she was became. She was determined to become a successful witch and do her parents proud and of course wouldn't complain about the fun along the way.

End of Chapter


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